In the aftermath of Tuesday’s crucial Champions League victory against Valencia, Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas trumpeted that his side had given ‘a slap in the face’ to the club’s critics.

However, his boisterousness may look misplaced by the time Manchester City have left Stamford Bridge on Monday.

Following on from a win at Newcastle, Villas-Boas was rightly delighted with an impressive 3-0 midweek victory that secured the Blues’ passage to the last 16 of the competition, but his abrasiveness does him no favours when Chelsea remain a work in progress that a ruthless City can take advantage of.

As impressive as Chelsea have been in the last week, their problems have not disappeared overnight and at 7/4 to leave west London with a victory, Premier League favourites City can cement their superiority over their title rivals.

That price of 7/4 is actually shorter than the home side, who are 7/5 favourites to claim three points, with the draw at 12/5.

City, of course, did not make it into the knock-out stages of the Champions League and will join rivals Manchester United in the Europa League (I mention this for no other reason than it is really funny), but in claiming ten points from a difficult group there is no reason why their confidence should be dented.

If anything, boss Roberto Mancini seems more determined to make a success of the season and with City five points clear of United at the top, they will take some stopping and can at the very least maintain that gap by winning at the Bridge.

The only four points the Citizens have dropped have come on the road against Fulham and Liverpool, the former a match they probably still don’t know how they didn’t win, the latter the type of performance that marks them out as champions – getting a result at a difficult ground when being below par for at least an hour.

Otherwise, their away form has been impeccable – four thumping wins to go with those two draws (27 goals scored) give them the best record in the division and the attacking riches at Mancini’s disposal can exploit the weakness in Chelsea’s back line.

I’d also be looking at a punt on the 333/100 that there are more than 2.5 goals in a Manchester City win. There have been three goals or more in five of City’s away games and in every single one of Chelsea’s home games..

Chelsea’s level of performance has been erratic for some weeks now and there are many reasons for this, but Villas-Boas may have identified the principle one, namely his insistence on playing a system that looks ill suited to the players.

His high defensive lline has not worked, as one clean sheet at home in the league testifies, but against Valencia they were noticeably deeper and looked more comfortable.

Whether that is yet another victory for player power in the Chelsea dressing room is unknown, but it will be interesting to see if similar tactics are adopted on Monday.

I am not convinced they will be, as the Blues boss has been vocal in his insistence on sticking with his philosophy and the sudden death nature of Tuesday’s match may have altered the 34-year-old’s thinking.

Villas-Boas also looks like he doesn’t know his best side and with players falling out of favour (Alex, Nicloas Anelka) and seemingly disgruntled (Frank Lampard, Fernando Torres) it doesn’t seem a happy camp, which tells against better class opposition.

Chelsea have lost twice at home, both times to Champions League contenders (Arsenal and Liverpool) as well as in the Carling Cup to the Merseysiders. And the fact is that City are a much better team than those in fifth and seventh places in the Premier League and can take advantage of Chelsea’s problems at 7/4.

I’d also be looking at a punt on the 333/100 that there are more than 2.5 goals in a Manchester City win. There have been three goals or more in five of City’s away games and in every single one of Chelsea’s home games..

This particular selection is priced at a very tempting 7/1, which means anyone backing it with their free £25 bet for joining bwin.com stands to win £200 if successful.

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